The Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus) is an annual Shinto fertility festival held in Kawasaki, Japan in spring. The exact dates vary: the main festivities fall on the first Sunday in April. The penis forms the central theme of the event that is reflected everywhere—in illustrations, candy, carved vegetables, decorations, and a mikoshi parade.



The Kanamara Matsuri is centered around a local penis-venerating shrine once popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. It is said that there are divine protections also in business prosperity and the clan's prosperity, easy delivery, marriage, and married couple harmony. There is also a legend of a sharp-toothed demon that hid inside the vagina of a young girl and castrated two young men on their wedding nights with the young girl before a blacksmith fashioned an iron phallus to break the demon's teeth, leading to the enshrinement of the item. Today, the festival is used to raise money for HIV research.

Can't get enough of that giant pink penis? Here are a few more pics:

The Hill of Crosses is a site of pilgrimage in northern Lithuania. The first crosses were placed on the former hill fort in the 14th century. Over the centuries, not only crosses, but giant crucifixes, carvings of Lithuanian patriots, statues of the Virgin Mary and thousands of tiny effigies and rosaries have been brought here by Catholic pilgrims.

The real reason for the Hill's existence lies buried in Lithuania's history. Over the centuries, the place has come to signify the peaceful endurance of Lithuanian Catholicism despite the threats it has faced throughout history. Invaded by Russia during the 1795 partition of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth Lithuania disappeared altogether from the map of Europe. When the old political structure of Eastern Europe fell apart in 1918, Lithuania once again declared its independence. Throughout this time, the Hill of Crosses was used as a place for Lithuanians to pray for peace, for their country, and for the loved ones they had lost.

Most recently, the site took on a special significance during the years 1944-1990, when Lithuania was occupied by the USSR. Continuing to travel to the Hill and leave their tributes, Lithuanians used it to demonstrate their allegiance to their original identity, religion and heritage. Although the Soviets worked hard to remove new crosses, and bulldozed the site at least three times, the new crossess continued to appear and by 1985 the authorities had given up.

On September 7, 1993, Pope John Paul II visited the Hill of Crosses, declaring it a place for hope, peace, love and sacrifice.

Burgos, Spain, June 15, 2007—A man jumps over babies born at the Salto del Colacho fiesta Sunday in Castrillo de Murcia, near Burgos, in northern Spain.

El Salto del Colacho, Spanish for "the devil's jump," is said to cleanse the babies of the "original sin" of conception and protect them from illness. The babies, born in the last twelve months, are dressed in their best clothes and laid on mattresses in the streets. Men dressed as devils, often carrying whips and truncheons, jump over babies by the dozen.

The festival, which originated in 1621, occurs every year on the Sunday following Corpus Christi, a Roman Catholic holiday observed across Spain.

So, you better believe it!